| Radical Inclusion | Decommodification | Leaving No Trace | RadicaL Self-expression | Communal Effort | Gifting | Civic Responsibility | Radical Self-reliance | Participation | Immediacy | Radical Inclusion Communal Effort Communal Effort | | Decommodification | Leaving No Trace RadicaL Self-expression | | RadicaL Self-expression Leaving No Trace | Decommodification | | Communal Effort Radical Inclusion | | Gifting | Immediacy Civic Responsibility | annual report annual Participation 2018 | | Radical Self-reliance Radical Self-reliance | | Burning Man Participation | Civic Responsibility Immediacy | Gifting | | Radical Inclusion Communal Effort | | Decommodification | Leaving No Leaving No RadicaL Self-expression | Burning Man Annual Report 2018 | 1 Leaving Leaving Decommodification Inclusion Radical Immediacy Participation Self-reliance Radical Responsibility Civic Gifting Effort Communal Self-expression RadicaL Trace | | | | | | | | | | | no Trace CEO Letter “There are things out there that need to be changed. As 2018 comes to a close, I am reflecting on the tremendous drive of the global Burning Man community. Burning Man is having a positive I want to create that real change, not just have impact on more people and places than ever before. Burning Man be a celebratory event.” The nonprofit Burning Man Project produces the annual Burning Man event in Black Rock City, and works year-round to provide support, education, and grants to a global ecosystem of artists, – Larry Harvey makers, and community leaders. Together, we are all working towards a future rooted in values such as self-expression and communal effort. We are envisioning a more connected and collaborative world, working to manifest the “real change” Larry dreamed of. While this work can be challenging, it is always inspiring and I’m excited to share some of what we’ve been doing. • First, we are reinvesting in the ethos that sets Burning Man apart from mass-produced events. This cultural course correction aims to protect and maintain what makes Burning Man unique, and we invite you to help us with this important effort. • Second, we’re actively evolving our connections to and among art collectives, theme camps, Burners Without Borders chapters, Regional communities, and 90 affiliated events. Through our significant investments in teaching and learning tools, we are furthering a network of social change agents around the globe. • Third, we are advancing Fly Ranch as an integrative platform supporting community engagement and experimentation. Throughout the year, 2,000 people visited the property through guided nature walks and weekend gatherings. Mission We are building a strong, productive, people-centric organization dedicated to amplifying and The mission of Burning Man Project is to facilitate and replicating Burning Man culture across the planet. While 2018 held many exciting milestones, it also brought our greatest loss. Our founder and extend the culture that has issued from the Burning Man original instigator, Larry Harvey, passed away on April 28. Larry was a dear friend whose profound reflections on our culture and unique vision will continue to drive our work. event into the larger world. Recently, the Smithsonian American Art Museum referenced Burning Man as “one of the most influential phenomena in contemporary American art and culture.” Burning Man’s reach and impact have been greater than most of us ever dreamed they would be. But the radical proliferation of our culture and the principles came as no surprise to Larry. He was a realist and a visionary, a Vision philosopher and a storyteller, and he always believed in the potential of this community. The Burning Man organization will bring experiences to Thank you for your work. With your help, we will build a world that is more inclusive, creative, and civically engaged. people in grand, awe-inspiring, and joyful ways that lift That’s a vision worth striving for! the human spirit, addresses social problems, and inspire Marian Goodell CEO, Burning Man Project a sense of culture, community, and civic engagement. 1 | Burning Man Annual Report 2018 Burning Man Annual Report 2018 | 2 Photo: George P. Post Spotlight on BRC Art Art is everywhere in Black Rock City. In every theme camp, on every street, throughout the expansive open playa — from Center Camp to the Man to the furthest point of the city’s perimeter — you’ll find art. In fact, everybody in Black Rock City is art. That’s part of what makes our city so special. Participants really took to the 2018 I, Robot theme with a range of creative expression, from every sort of robot imaginable to more conceptual pieces around our relationship with technology. Citizenship in Black Rock City Bill Klemens Photo: | Black Rock City has become something we could scarcely have imagined on the beach in 1986: C.A.R.S Artists: a thriving temporary city. With tens of thousands of residents stretched across miles of the | Black Rock Desert, 1,472 camps, and hundreds of works of art, 2018 was one of the best years yet in the dust! Black Rock City’s citizens stepped up to build the inclusive, dynamic art and The Great Train Wreck Wreck Train The Great community they wanted to experience together. Art: The Black Rock Desert is where our culture took root, and the community about these issues, we created “The Great Train Wreck,” a collaborative project artists from Reno annual gathering in Nevada is still the largest annual expression a survey with questions about residential and Sacramento, was a celebration of railroad history, featuring of the Burning Man ethos. It is our launchpad to the broader BRC, camp sizes, and cultural concerns two locomotives colliding and burning on Friday night. Inspired by world. Our work now is to manage costs and capacity while and considerations. In just three weeks it NASA’s Project Echo, the 84’ diameter “ORB” from Bjarke Ingels’ protecting the event and the ways it serves as a catalyst for generated over 4,800 responses from 78 group in Denmark gave BRC participants a 1/500,000 perspective promoting cultural change beyond the event in the desert. countries. This work will help establish a new of what it might be like to see Earth from space. On the smaller baseline for how the community views itself but equally fun side, “Odd Jelly Out” returned to Deep Playa for a Our hope is that people who participate in Black Rock City and what steps Burning Man Project might second year, depicting a joyous gathering of 10, four-foot tall Jelly become positive, productive, and engaged citizens in their take towards creating effective change. This Babies hand crafted from steel and fiberglass. year-round homes and communities. Being a good Burning is citizenship in action. Man citizen starts with being prepared and understanding that In 2018, Art Support Services (ASS) continued its push toward Burning Man works best when everyone participates. This year Burning Man Project’s mission is to share “going direct,” supporting artists at their build sites to address we took steps to nurture a sense of citizenship in participants, Burning Man culture beyond the playa, and as we continue to find 70% of service requests — for heavy equipment, anchors, fuel, and to reinvest in the cultural ethos that sets Burning Man ways to live the 10 Principles beyond the trash fence, we believe it’s water, and other resources — in the field. Before, during, and apart from mass-produced events. more important than ever to ensure Black Rock City is the strongest after the event, ASS volunteered a total of 4,000 hours over 680 possible manifestation of our ethos. This means investing new shifts to provide this high-touch outreach, fulfilling more than 700 Project Citizenship is a concentrated, cross-departmental energy in our city in the desert, and preserving and protecting the complex requests and a multitude of smaller needs. Building on effort to educate potential and returning participants on values that set us apart from mainstream culture. past know-how and infused with new leadership, 91% of artists many of the values we hold dear. In 2018, the project focused gave ASS a positive rating. on topics like preventing the commodification of Burning Art: Loadstar | Artist: Randy Polumbo | Photo: Andrew Wyatt Man, celebrating the small, and taking personal responsibility. Photo: Ales Prikryl We shared this information through targeted emails to ticket buyers, short quizzes in Burner Profiles and the ticketing page, Burning Man Journal posts, a shift in Instagram content, and other campaigns. We also launched another big initiative in 2018 called “Black Rock City Cultural Direction Setting.” This project aims to examine and shift how we think about placement, camps, and residential BRC over the next five to 10 years. To engage the 3 | Burning Man Annual Report 2018 Burning Man Annual Report 2018 | 4 Art: ORB | Artist: Bjarke Ingels’ group | Photo: Jamen Percy Photo: Chuck Revell THE BURNING FINNS Burning Man’s connection with Finland’s Aalto University began in 2014 when Anssi Laurilla, a student at the Aalto Design Factory, a space that facilitates interdisciplinary projects in arts, design, engineering, and business, came up with the idea to bring a student-designed and built interactive art project to Black Rock City. The cosmic egg structure “Aalto on Fire” delighted Black Rock City participants on playa in 2015. In 2016, Aalto supported the “Koulu on Fire” project, bringing the “Koulu School” peer- learning concept to the Man Base. Originally developed by a Teaching and Learning Helsinki think tank, the Koulu concept empowers participants to teach a lesson on a topic of their choosing – an idea that Around the World resonates with Burning Man’s culture of peer learning. After field- testing at the Burning Man event, the concept was brought to Learning and teaching have long been been cornerstones of Burning Man culture. On playa, post-earthquake Nepal and the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.